Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raewon]

Good day. I have a question about whether or not the "to be" verb can be omitted from certain sentences. I've asked a similar question before, but this is slightly different.

The sentences in question are the following:

All the students thought the story true.
I think Jeff a great mechanic.
To hear her sing, you would think her an angel.

Those sentences sound grammatically incorrect to me, but I'm not sure. I've searched through my grammar books, but can only find the following comment:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With some "believe" verbs (e.g. consider, judge), "to be" can be omitted.
Example:
We consider him to be an expert in these matters.
We consider him an expert in these matters.

Judgments about which "believe" verbs permit the omission of "to be" vary among native speakers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure if the verb "think" falls into the "believe verbs" category, meaning that some native speakers would consider the sentences in question correct or not.

Any comments about the sentences in question would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[SuperfuzzBigmuff]

It's a boring deskwarming day, so I'll have a crack. Anyone feel free to make corrections.


1. All (of) the students thought (that) the story was true. The students thought what? I'd use a noun clause with the story as a subject

2. I think clause. If you take off " I think" as in, giving your opinion about Jeff, you're left with: Jeff a great mechanic, which lacks a verb so you need to be: I think (that) Jeff is a great mechanic.

3. To hear her sing, you would think (that) she is an angel. Same as number 1.

OK, back to reading the BBC news.